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Here you’ll find the main stories about our travels.

For the most part, entries in the other categories are linked to the applicable main story – mention of a hotel will have a link to a review of that hotel, mention of a sound will have a link to that recording, etc.

If we return to Palau, we will do things differently. For equipment, we will bring our own kayak. We have a Long Haul Mark II Expedition folding kayak, which we have already transported by plane for use in the Bahamas. It’s a bit costly to pay for the extra baggage fees, but no more costly than renting a touring kayak; […]

We spent a cumulative of 5 nights in Koror. We drove it and the adjoining islands of Malakal and Meyungs, and we walked Koror and Malakal. We stayed in two hotels, one in downtown Koror and one on Meyungs. Here are some notes we took from our long walk through Koror and Malakal Island: There are no bars at which […]

We explored Palua’s largest island for two days, driving the entire perimeter each day, and stopping at a few places. Babeldaob is sparsely inhabited. It has rolling terrain and lush vegetation, which reminded us of Costa Rica. The main road that rings the island is a very good, two-lane, paved highway. Most intersecting roads are paved for a couple hundred […]

The arrival process for Palau was unremarkable. It was the standard immigration and customs checks. Our passports were quickly stamped, nothing intrusive was done with our baggage, and no fees were charged. As of this writing, United States citizens did not require visas for visits of one year or less. The departure was more bureaucratic and costly. At the entrance […]

Weather There are, reportedly, two seasons in Palau: the dry and the rainy. What months are said to fall in these two seasons depends upon the source. After looking at multiple sources, the average seems to be: Dry season: November – April Rainy Season: May – October We imagine this is a matter of degrees, as Palau has a high […]

We visited St. Croix in April of 2016. It was my fourth trip to the island, and Jen’s first. We stayed three weeks, in a condominium with a full kitchen, to get a feel for living on the island. The Surroundings and People St Croix is a mix of old, new, wealthy, poor, maintained, eroded, finished, and incomplete. Within […]

In September 2015, we spent five days backpacking in the Emigrant Wilderness. The Emigrant Wilderness is in the California Sierras, within the Stanislaus National Forest. It borders, and is north of, Yosemite National Park. We started the trip by getting our wilderness permit from the Ranger station in Pinecrest. From there, we drove to the Crabtree Trailhead, and then hiked […]

The town is another of those Spanish hilltop villages of white buildings and castle ruins. The outline of the buildings is broken by television antennas, and the white is broken by clothing hung out to dry from windows and on rooftops. The narrow lanes are patrolled by a few dogs, who leave droppings on the cobblestones. The town’s rhythm is […]

A one-year trip through multiple countries — many of them third-world — takes a well-conceived medical plan. Our plan consisted of a medical kit, pre-trip vaccinations, and medical insurance. The Medical Kit We used an Adventure Medical Kits “Fundamentals” pre-made kit as the starting point. I don’t think we’d do that again, as much of what was in the […]

For the past five weeks, we have rented a small house in rural Andalusia. The closest neighbors are out of sight and hearing. The closest village is San Pablo de Buceite, about three-quarters of a mile away. The closest town is Jimena de la Frontera, about five miles away. The closest city is Algeciras, about twenty-five miles away. The […]

La Bodeguita is a small bar on Marques de Tamaron. It’s somewhat the standard Spanish town bar, in that it has a small and wood-heavy interior, and a few outside tables. Yet, there is something different about this bar that keeps bringing us back. Perhaps it’s the reliable and free wi-fi Internet access, which is a rarity in Vejer. […]

When the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, the population of Cambodia was in the neighborhood of seven-and-a-half million people. The number of people who died over the next four years, until the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and ended the Khmer Rouge genocide, varies from study to study; but most estimates point to the death of a quarter of the population. […]

Jen and I are exercise people. After months on the road without anything resembling an exercise program, both of us were feeling out of shape. Added to this was Jen’s ankle injury, which was two months old and still far from being healed. We needed a place to park for a while, rehabilitate the ankle, and get back some of […]

As I write this, we are in Andalusia, Spain; in a house in a rural area with no close neighbors; and the nearest village a small thing about a kilometer away, down a narrow, dirt road. At night, it is pitch black in the house. During the day, it is sunny. There are few, if any, cars that go past […]

Siem Reap Battambang is a large town surrounded by rural farming areas. Siem Reap is a small city next to a large tourist attraction – the largest in Cambodia, and one of the largest in the world. In Battambang, it’s possible to be one of only a handful of tourists during the off-season. During the peak season, the tourist presence […]

One thing we have learned in our travels through Southeast Asia is that you really need you own wheels. That means renting a motorbike. In Cambodia, everyone and their sister owns a motorbike. They run from 100cc to 125cc in engine size, and lie somewhere between a moped and a dirt bike on the motorcycle spectrum. The degree to which […]

Our Khmer language tutor, Khena, invited us to a Bon Katen at a Wat located a little over an hour’s motorbike ride east of Battambang. A Bon Katen is a celebration that raises donations for the Wat, or Buddhist temple complex. As we would discover, it’s a bit more than just that. Khena met us at our hotel at 8:00am […]

The Buddhist temple complex of Wat Somrong Knong is located just a few kilometers north of Battamabang, and a little east of the Sangkar River. Part of the history of the Wat is that it was used by the Khmer Rouge as a prison; a place where people were interrogated, tortured, and executed during the Pol Pot regime. It is […]

Jen here. I just thought I should add my two-cents about Australia. Dan hated Australia. OK, I share most of his angst about the place, BUT there are things about Australia that are nice, like being awakened every morning by this (push the play button): Overall, the places we visited in Australia weren’t so great; but I think […]

After leaving Darwin, we had to spend the night in Singapore before catching our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Crowne Plaza Changi Hotel We decided to stay at the Crowne Plaza Changi Hotel, which is the main airport hotel. It was pricey, at about US $320 a night; but after four weeks in an Australian campervan it was worth every […]

From Broome, we headed east and then north, leaving Western Australia and heading to the Kakadu National Park of the Northern Territory. A day or so east of Broome, the terrain became less monotonous than it had been during the previous section of Western Australia. There was some relief to the terrain, and the trees became more interesting. There was […]

In Perth, we rented a campervan, which is a van that has been modified with a sink, stovetop, small refrigerator, and seating that converts to a bed in the back. It costs us $75 AUD a day for this thing. We initially booked a less expenses campervan at $60 AUD a day, but it was so run down that we […]

Jen and I have now been in Western Australia for three weeks. During that time, we have stayed in Perth, hiked for twelve days on the Bibbulmun Track, and spent three nights in the rural town of Williams a couple hours south of Perth. Our plan to hike the entire length of the Bibbulmun Track had to be scrapped. Jen […]

We are starting the Bibbulmun Trail tomorrow. It’s 600 miles of hiking, and will take just under two months to complete. The trail starts near Perth, Australia, and ends near Albany. The first leg to get to a resupply town is 11 days away. Our packs are a bit on the weighty side. Internet access is going to be a […]

Psar Pruhm – Ban Pakard Border Crossing We used the Psar Pruhm – Ban Pakard border crossing to leave Cambodia and return to Thailand. This is a lesser-used crossing to the southwest of Battambang, Cambodia. From Battambang, we took a bus to the border, passing through the town of Pailin along the way. The bus stopped a couple kilometers short […]